A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

When Gui'er returned to the Marshal's residence, Dingxiang said, "The Second Young Master knew that the young lady was going out, so he sent someone to deliver a box of things."

When Guier opened it, she saw several sets of newly made clothes, including cheongsams, imported dresses, shoes, hats, handbags, and a set of jade jewelry, including bracelets, earrings, rings, and pendants worn with gold necklaces.

Mrs. Shen's eyes lit up when she saw it and said, "How can you, a little child, carry such a good thing?" Then she raised her hand to take it.

Miss Shen quickly said, "Mother, don't be like this."

She curled her lips and walked away.

Gui'er didn't know when she would be able to return from Nanjing, so she came to the third concubine to find Taohua and told her about this matter.

Taohua was horrified when she heard this and said, "What should I do if you leave?"

Gui'er gave her half of the twenty silver dollars Song Xichen had given her, saying, "We are in the Marshal's Mansion and have no choice. Take these ten silver dollars and use them for your own safety."

Taohua was still unhappy, so Guier comforted her, saying, "I just don't know when he'll be back, not that he won't be back. Dashuai is Big Brother's father, and it's impossible for his father not to come back if he's still here."

Taohua asked again: "What about your brother and the others?"

Gui'er said, "I'll send a message to them. They're two skilled men, so they'll be able to survive no matter what. You don't have to worry."

On the day of their departure, Gui'er learned that they were traveling to Nanjing by train, a journey that would only take six or seven hours. When they passed through Fengcheng, Sha Yanxiao personally came to see them off and gave them two lunch boxes to take on board. His wife, in a rare display of approval, showed a sincere expression. Sha Yanyao also said, "Second brother, you're so thoughtful."

After getting in the car, Guier opened the box and found her favorite foods inside: butterfly cakes, pan-fried dumplings, and cream cakes.

They were exhausted and took a six or seven-hour train ride before finally arriving in Nanjing. Sha Yanyao originally wanted to stay in a hotel, but Mrs. Shen said, "We already have a house in Nanjing, why should we waste the money?" She asked the driver to drive to the Xibaicai Garden.

Guier looked at it curiously and found that the villas in Nanjing were very different from those in Shanghai. Blue bricks were mostly used, and there were no tiles of various colors on the outside. The blue bricks were exposed, which looked very solemn.

Soon, the car stopped in front of a small courtyard. Guier got out of the car and looked. It was a two-story small house with blue brick exterior walls and vermilion doors and window frames. The colors formed a sharp contrast. The courtyard was not very big and could only accommodate two small cars.

Guier felt something was not good as soon as she saw it. The size of this house was a bit like the self-built houses in modern urban villages. It was just right for a family to live in and there was still some room. But there were five of them now, and each of them had one or two servants. It was definitely crowded.

As soon as Mrs. Shen got out of the car, she called her servant to take her luggage out of the car, and then went into the house, leaving everyone else there.

Gui'er and Sha Yanyao both felt a little awkward. Miss Shen said, "Let's go in first. The servants live on the first floor. There are four rooms on the second floor, which is just enough for us to share."

After hearing this, everyone moved their things in one by one. Not surprisingly, Gui'er's room was the smallest one on the side. The worst thing was that the toilet and bathroom here were shared, with only one on each floor. If it weren't for the solemn and dignified Republican-style exterior, this would have been a small self-built house.

Ah Cheng and Ding Xiang moved Gui Er's things into the room, sorted them out, and then went to their respective servants' rooms to settle down. But Ding Xiang came up again after a while and said to Gui Er with a sad face, "Miss, the servants' rooms here have large bunk beds. Four or five people have to live in one room."

Gui'er sighed and said, "I'm sorry to trouble you. We are away from home and we can only make do with it."

Dingxiang knew that Gui'er was telling the truth, so she just curled her lips and kept silent. After a while, she continued, "There's no housekeeper here. The servants just now were moving things for their respective masters. Luckily, we brought Ah Cheng with us this time, otherwise there would be no one to carry our suitcases."

Gui'er thought for a moment and said, "Isn't the Shen family's housekeeper in Shanghai? Didn't he die when Master Shen got into trouble? Maybe they haven't found a suitable one yet."

Ding Xiang sighed and said, "How dare you invite so many people to such a place like this?"

Gui'er quickly said to her, "Don't talk nonsense. If others hear me, they might think I came here unwillingly."

The next day, although Gui'er didn't have to go to school, she didn't dare to sleep in. She got up early in the morning and went to the bathroom. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she came to the restaurant on the first floor. No one was there. A servant who was originally in the yard peeked at her and didn't say anything.

She didn't know what was going on. At this time, Ah Cheng came over and said, "Miss, are you hungry? How about I go out and buy you breakfast?"

Gui'er didn't know whether the rule here was to eat individually or together, so she said to him, "I'm not hungry yet. Wait a minute. Have you guys had breakfast yet?"

Ah Cheng smiled and said, "Miss, don't worry. I'm very approachable and will never suffer any loss. This morning, I saw the cook cooked white porridge and steamed cakes. The other servants were eating them, so we took some too."

Guier nodded, and seeing that no one had come yet, she went upstairs to get a book she had brought with her and started reading. She was worried that she would fall behind in her studies, so she asked the principal and teachers for all the books for the semester and brought them along.

About half an hour later, Sha Yanyao and Miss Shen came down, and Mrs. Sha and the others came down shortly after. Miss Shen looked at so many people and said to the cook, "Auntie Zhang, bring out breakfast."

The cook, Zhang Ma, said, "Miss, have you forgotten? In the past, we had to wait for the mistress to come down before we could start eating breakfast, otherwise she would scold us."

Miss Shen was a little embarrassed, and Mrs. Sha curled her lips but said nothing.

Gui'er pretended not to hear and continued reading with her head down.

Several people sat in the restaurant, staring at each other, waiting for half an hour before Mrs. Shen finally came down from the stairs slowly.

When the cook saw this, she immediately went into the kitchen and brought out the prepared breakfast, which included pot stickers, plum cakes, tofu pudding, and chicken soup dumplings. Guier tasted them and thought they were quite delicious.

After breakfast, Sha Yanyao was going to visit officials he knew. Mrs. Shen said to Miss Shen, "Now that you're back, it's time to visit your former classmates."

Miss Shen nodded and said to Gui'er, "Come with me."

Mrs. Shen said, "You haven't seen each other for so long, and you have a lot of intimate things to talk about. What's the big deal about taking a child with you? Besides, we only have two cars at home, so you and I will definitely go in one car. There's no room for so many people."

Gui'er said tactfully, "I won't go. Although I don't have to go to school, the teacher gave me books to study on my own. I'll study at home. If there's anything I don't understand, I'll ask you when my sister-in-law comes back."

Miss Shen smiled, touched Gui'er's face, and said, "Okay, I'll bring you some crispy sesame cakes when I come back."